WhatsApp is testing a new feature designed to make users' inboxes less crowded by automatically moving messages from large businesses into a separate folder. The feature comes as more companies use the messaging platform to communicate with customers, sending everything from delivery updates and appointment reminders to promotional offers and discount codes.
The development follows Meta's strong financial performance in the second quarter of 2026. During the company's earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the "other revenue" category within its Family of Apps business generated more than $1 billion, driven largely by WhatsApp's paid messaging services and subscription offerings for businesses.
As WhatsApp continues to grow as a business communication platform, many users are finding it increasingly difficult to keep track of personal conversations among the growing number of messages from brands and companies. To address this, Meta is testing a new folder called "Offers & Updates," where messages from larger businesses, such as banks, airlines, retailers, delivery services, and other major organizations, will be stored automatically.
Instead of remaining in the main chat list, these business messages will move into the new folder after a certain period. WhatsApp said it is currently experimenting with different time intervals, with messages being transferred after anywhere from a few hours up to 24 hours after they are received.
The goal is to ensure that important business messages remain accessible while keeping users' main chat screen focused on conversations with friends, family, and groups.
Users who prefer to keep all their messages together will have the option to turn off the feature. However, when the setting is enabled, WhatsApp will decide when business messages are moved automatically, rather than allowing users to set their own timing.
Meta believes the feature will benefit both users and businesses. Promotional offers, shipping notifications, payment reminders, and travel updates can be stored neatly in one place instead of filling the main inbox. At the same time, businesses may find it easier for customers to locate previous messages inside a dedicated folder rather than searching through dozens of conversations.
For now, the feature is only being tested with selected companies using the WhatsApp Business Platform, which serves larger organizations. Small businesses and individuals using WhatsApp Business are currently excluded from the test, although Meta said it may consider expanding the feature to include them in the future.
The new folder is the latest step in WhatsApp's ongoing effort to reduce unwanted business messaging. Over the past few years, the company has introduced several tools to give users more control over commercial communications.
In 2024, WhatsApp began allowing users to unsubscribe from marketing messages sent by businesses. The following year, it introduced limits on how many broadcast messages businesses and individual users could send within a certain period. In October 2025, the company tightened those restrictions further by limiting the number of promotional messages businesses could send without receiving a response from users. While the first two measures have been fully rolled out, WhatsApp says it is still refining the latest messaging limits.
Despite these improvements, many users continue to feel overwhelmed by the number of business messages they receive every day. Promotional campaigns, order confirmations, banking alerts, travel notifications, and customer service updates can quickly crowd the chat list, making it harder to spot personal conversations.
The new folder could help reduce some of that clutter, although many users may still want additional controls that allow them to decide exactly which business messages stay in their main inbox and which are filtered elsewhere.
The timing of the feature also reflects Meta's growing investment in AI-powered business tools. In June, WhatsApp expanded its AI business agents globally, with more than one million businesses already using them. During the earnings call, Zuckerberg highlighted Brazilian car rental company Movida as one example, saying the company had improved customer support and increased conversions by using AI agents on WhatsApp.
As more businesses adopt AI to handle customer service, marketing, and sales conversations, WhatsApp faces the challenge of balancing commercial communication with the personal messaging experience that made the platform popular. The new "Offers & Updates" folder could become an important step in keeping users' inboxes organized while allowing businesses to continue reaching customers without overwhelming their chats.
